So, I've bitten the bullet and just purchased and had delivered my new model, the Tamiya 1:32 F4U-1 Corsair Birdcage. All in with paint (luckily had all but 6 colors already) £120. Pricey, but hopefully worth it as I have seen a few WIP's of this model and people have had only good things to say.

One quick question to the community before I start out........I'm impatient to start !!

From a quick look thru the first few steps of the destruction sheet, the colour of the pit calls for a 2:1 mix of XF5 (flat green) and XF8 (flat blue). But from the nice colour pictures included in the kit, the pit doesn't seem to be a blue hue, seems more like a straight cockpit green (XF71).

For those who have preceeded me in this build, did you go with the 2:1 mix as in the destructions, or cockpit green......or something else?

"For the F4U-1 Birdcage Corsairs, photos taken at the time show the cockpits being a very dark colour, most probably black. Analysis of some crashed examples of F4U-1s indicates black, while the factory Erection & Maintenance Instructions called for Dull Dark Green. As mentioned before, early production Corsairs had their interior surfaces in areas other than the cockpit covered with Salmon primer. This colour mixture was used relatively long into Corsair production. It would seem that all F4U-1s and a number of early F4U-1As were finished this way.

Somewhere during the production of F4U-1A model Vought discontinued the use of Salmon primers and switched to Zinc Chromate Yellow with cockpits in Interior Green."

It's easy to fly, just jump and miss the floor :)

Currently on the bench: Tamiya 1:32 P51-D (in the post......exciting! )